Former members of the University of Ottawa men’s hockey team have launched a class-action lawsuit against the school following a press conference given at attorney Lawrence Greenspon’s office in Ottawa.
Andrew Creppin, on behalf of his former teammates, will serve as the representative plaintiff in the suit, which seeks $6 million in damages against the university and president Allan Rock.
In June, it was announced the university’s hockey program would stay suspended for the 2014-15 season, a continuation on the suspension that cost the team the end of its 2013-14 campaign.
The decision came after the school launched an independent internal investigation following a complaint of sexual assault on the weekend of Feb. 1 in Thunder Bay when the team was on the road playing Lakehead University, resulting in two players on the team being charged.
The two players, Guillaume Donovan and David Foucher, are not represented in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Creppin and other members of the team had taken an ill teammate to the hospital when the alleged sexual assault took place.
Creppin, a fourth-year human kinetics student at the school, said he suffered from anxiety and trouble sleeping when the accusations first came out.
“It was hard for us to even wear our coats out in public without being ridiculed,” Creppin said. “[The school] threw us under the bus.”
“Sexual assault is a serious crime, but since offenders carry a huge stigma, it is particularly important to make sure that innocent people aren’t accused,” Greenspon said at the press conference. “The University of Ottawa punished Andrew and the rest of the students on the team before any due process was carried out.”
Greenspon said the school tarnished the reputation of its student-athletes when they knew some players weren’t involved and carried on with the suspension.
The suit seeks $4 million in damages for “breach of fiduciary duty, negligence misfeasance in public office and other torts” as well as $2 million for “punitive, exemplary and/or aggravated damages” according to the Statement of Claim.
Following the suspension, the players lost their access to student-athlete resources, including invitations to events, training facilities, and medical treatment, according to Creppin.
Creppin, who played five years of junior hockey in Ottawa before playing a year at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and then transferring to his hometown school, said he and his teammates spent years training for the opportunity.
Due to the allegations, Creppin said he’s worried his pursuit of future academic and career goals is in jeopardy.
“I was hoping [the team] would be something that would help build my resumé, not something I would be ashamed of when I go to interviews or when I go to apply to post-graduate school,” he said.
Other players represented in the suit lost co-op placements they were already involved in and summer jobs, Greenspon said, adding that some players have taken their experience on the team off of their resumés.
The University of Ottawa said they have not been served with any documents relating to a legal action yet in a statement after the announcement.
